Chilling, diving and drinking in Caye Caulker

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
7
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
2
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
10
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
4
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
3
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
7
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
70 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
157th/453
Top 40%
continent
North America
country
Belize
Length of time
3-4 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$130 ($200-$500 in 2019 prices)
Time of year visited
June
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Beaches Partying / Lash Scuba diving
All Tags
Boat trip Bustling restaurants Cycling Islands Swimming Wildlife - Boobies Wildlife - Frigate Birds Wildlife - Sea Turtles Wildlife - Sharks
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐⭐
Summary

Chilling – Go Slow is on the street signs, used when people say hello to each other, and just the general culture of the place.  Such a wonderfully laid back Caribbean beach town

Diving – some fab dive sites no distance from the shore, and of course access to the world famous Blue Hole

Drinking – the Spit, the narrow channel that splits Caye Caulker in two and with a series of beach bars to allow you to chill in the water whilst having your drinks, makes for one of the best drinking spots you can dream of

Caye Caulker – a must if in Belize

Highlights
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#1 Chilling out having a few drinks in the water by The Spit that separates the two islands, one of the coolest beach bar locations

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#2 Diving with the nurse sharks around Tackle Box and Esmerelda dive sites

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#3 Wandering through the lazy streets and colourful bars of Caye Caulker

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#4 Heading out by boat to the world-famous dive site of the Blue Hole, with its enormous stalactites, sleek Caribbean Reef Sharks, and the unnerving look down into the deep blue

Travel Tips

  • Diving -we went for a half day of diving with Black Durgon Dives and would recommend them.  Two sites just to the north of Caye Caulker:
    • Tackle Box (30m), a canyon with a heap of nurse sharks
    • Esmerelda (30m), a similar dive with many nurse sharks
  • Blue Hole– for more tips specifically on a trip to dive the Blue Hole, see  the Diving the Blue Hole entry
  • Cycling – in Caye Caulker, nothing is really that far away, but it is worth hiring a bike, or borrowing one from the place you’re staying at
  • Start off with the Lazy Lizard at The Spit and, if haven’t had too much to drink, head over at some point to the other side where there are a couple of cool little spots for a different and even less built up view
  • Key tip – Go Slow . . . its what Caye Caulker is known for
Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

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Score Detail

The scores you see above are really the point of this whole site, rather than just the individual travel review you're seeing above.  They fit into a much bigger summary of 20 years of travel, across 100+ countries, from dirt-poor backpacking to the luxury end, rushed weekends to months on the road.  Every one of the 500+ experiences have a "wow factor" score and a few other scores that add up to a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score.  For more info, have a look at the About page for the travel philosophy that drives them.

But, more importantly, have a play with the map above and on the Home page to see which of these experiences rank as really Maximum Wow-factor all the way down to the proper "Gash".

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